RAISINA TATTLE: Congress's Dwivedi ponders poll drubbing

Congress party leader Janardan Dwivedi has been reflecting on the election drubbing

A month after the Congress was routed in the Lok Sabha polls, senior party leader Janardan Dwivedi on Wednesday observed that not much attention was given to the organisation when the party was in power, and said organisational polls should be dealt with priority.

"In a political organisation, one or the other activity keeps happening. But in my opinion, now the organisation is most important. In my view as long we had a government at the Centre, much attention was not given to the organisation," Dwivedi said.

Citing reasons for the neglect of the organisation, he said some or the other assembly elections were held every year and the mind of party leaders was stuck there.

Appointment to finance ministry

Rakesh Singh, a senior IAS officer of Punjab cadre, is all set to replace G.S. Sandhu as Secretary Financial Services in the Ministry of Finance.

Sandhu is likely to be appointed Secretary Urban Development.

Singh, from the 1978 batch, will be senior to Shaktikanta Das, a 1980 batch officer who has been appointed Revenue Secretary.

Singh and Ratan Wattal, the Expenditure Secretary in the ministry, are batch mates.

There is a buzz that after the budget Sandhu is likely to replace Arvind Mayaram as Finance Secretary. Singh has earlier served as Additional Secretary, Financial Services.

Vacation: President Pranab Mukherjee is getting away from Delhi's heat for a bit

Pranab escapes Capital's heat

President Pranab Mukherjee is headed to the mountains for a summer vacation, away from Delhi's heat.

He is expected to leave on June 20 for a week-long holiday to Mashobra near Shimla and stay at the Presidential Retreat.

Core officers of his office will accompany him.

The British-era retreat is a tourist attraction because of its picturesque surroundings and architecture.

The President visits the retreat at least once a year.

Commissions on NDA radar

After the governors, the NDA government is now likely to go after the chiefs of various commissions like NCW, NCPCR, SC/ST Commission, Minority Commission and others appointed by the UPA government.

Top sources said various ministries are preparing a list of heads of all these bodies. It may not be a surprise if we hear the news of resignation of heads of these commissions in the coming weeks, said a government official.

UP Governor B.L. Joshi has already resigned from his post and sources claimed that many more governors may follow him.